The former Prime Minister Helen Clark says the future of the RNZ Concert has been disastrously handled; and the National Party leader Simon Bridges says discussions about the need for political donation reform are a diversion by the Government.
1.Two weeks after a child suffered horrific injuries at his home in Flaxmere the police still don’t know who beat him. The boy, 4, is in a serious condition in Starship Hospital and is likely to be severely disabled, if he survives, after being badly injured at a Hastings property on 29 January. Detective Inspector Mike Foster said it was one of the most appalling cases of child abuse he has seen in his three decades on the force.
2.The Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield says about 1800 people returning from China have registered as being in self imposed isolation because of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Health line is now making contact with those people to check up on them while they are isolated.
3.The National Party leader Simon Bridges says discussions about the need for political donation reform are a diversion by the Government. Donations are under scrutiny with the Serious Fraud Office, looking at the New Zealand First Foundation.
4.The former Prime Minister Helen Clark says the future of the RNZ Concert has been disastrously handled. The broadcaster revealed plans last week to take the classical music station off FM, with those frequencies to be used by new station targeted young people.
5.A fire at a car wrecker’s yard, in Wikaraka St in Ngongotaha, near Rotorua is now under control, but still burning. The blaze stretches 100 metres by 60 metres, and at its peak had more than 20 crews and two aerial appliances battling the fire in Ngongotaha ten minutes north of Rotorua.
6.A chronic shortage of family doctors in Northland means some patients are seeking help at Whangarei hospital emergency department, where they have been turned away. Each day eight non-urgent patients are sent off with a voucher for free treatment at the city’s private emergency clinic.
7.A prisoner at Rimutaka who has been on a hunger strike for three weeks is existing solely on electrolytes, sugar pills and water. The Department of Corrections would not say why the inmate was refusing to eat, citing legal obligations regarding the man’s privacy. In a statement, Rimutaka Prison boss Viv Whelan said the inmate is in segregation where he’s being cared for by on-site mental health and medical staff.
8.The Government hasn’t done enough to lift the country’s poorest families out of poverty and many are still struggling to find secure housing, the Salvation Army says. Its latest State of the Nation report concludes that while some progress has been made to lift incomes, more change is needed.
